1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of machines for food processing, and more particularly to a machine which processes dough into a finished product for use in the pizza baking process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Relatively small bench mounted pizza dough rolling machines are quite common in the art and are used in virtually every pizza making operation. The machines of the prior art are generally small machines and are adapted to be mounted upon a bench where the operator has full control over the machine and the adjusting parts thereof. There are several well-known dough rolling machines on the market today, however, they all suffer from one or more problems which make the machines less than satisfactory.
Typically the devices of the prior art are so constructed that they have stationary roller shafts which are equipped with ultra light ball bearings, and thus the rollers operate as idlers on the stationary shafts and have sprockets welded on one end of the roller for a chain drive. More importantly, the chain and complete drive mechanism is generally located interiorly of the roller machine housing which causes several problems. The least of which is that the dough frequently comes into contact with the moving parts of the machine, thereby creating an extremely unsanitary condition.
During operation of the standard dough rolling machines, the dough is often squeezed into the chain area next to the side walls of the housing, thereby impregnating the bearings, sprockets and chain drive of the machine. Daily cleaning is almost impossible as there is no convenient way to clean the sidewall housing without removing the entire housing and, consequently, the drive mechanism of the machine. Proper lubricants are restricted due to the likelihood of contact between the food stuffs and the drive mechanism and, therefore, the lack of lubrication causes the moving parts of the dough roller to become frictionally unstable. This causes excessive wear to the chain, bearings and sprockets that are mounted in the drive mechanism.
The excessive wear of the drive mechanism causes the machine to experience considerable down time resulting in economic loss to the pizza maker. It is required that the moving parts, such as the sprockets, rollers, shafts and bearings, be removed from the machine in order to repair the machine. Normally, this requires the services of a qualified machinist to totally rebuild the machine and to replace the worn parts with new parts. This results in a lengthy down time which is quite expensive for the pizza operator